Apple Car rumors heat up with new auto manufacturing hire

Apple Car

Rumors of Apple looking to build its own electric car have become even more likely with reports of a new hire.

The tech-giant has hired Doug Betts, an automotive industry veteran who was the global head of operations and quality at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles from 2007 until late last year, according to his LinkedIn profile.

With a career in the auto manufacturing business since 1997, Betts has also worked at Nissan Motors Manufacturing as senior vice president and Toyota Motors Manufacturing as general manager.

With his title now reading a very cryptic "Operations - Apple Inc," we can only think of one reason why Apple would hire Betts - an Apple Car.

The rumors continue

Back in February, there were reports of several hundred employees working on an Apple-branded electric car at a secret lab in Cupertino.

Since then, there have been more reports, including Apple hiring the head of research and development from Mercedes-Benz's North American R&D lab, as well as a lawsuit filed against the tech giant, poaching A123 staff and Tesla workers for its own car battery projects.

All of this has led to widespread speculation over what, exactly, Apple may be cooking up next.

And now, with Betts sitting in Apple's camp, it seems even more likely that Apple is looking to build its own electric car, and not just expanding its Apple CarPlay offering.

Via WSJ

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